Oluyinka Onigbinde
Even as some of them are at different states of decrepit while a few have sunk, Shipping Position Daily investigations have revealed that a whopping $120 million was used in 2013 by the duo of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and Global West Vessels Specialist Nigeria Limited (GWVSL) to acquire 16 patrol boats in the quest to secure the nation’s water from serial maritime crimes.
Recall that the federal government (through NIMASA) in 2013 entered into an agreement with Global West to supply patrol boats for policing the entire stretch of Nigeria’s coastline, from Calabar to Lagos.
However, owing to the disagreements between the NIMASA and Global West Vessel Specialists Limited in a botched Public-Private Partnership (PPP) deal, the vessels have remained idle with two of the vessels already sunk while others are currently on the verge of sinking.
Although. NIMASA while giving reasons for the abandonment has said the boats in contention were subject to litigation under the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Mr Edward Osagie, Assistant Director, Public Relations, NIMASA, had stated this in a press statement last month.
However, in an exclusive interview with Shipping Position Daily the Managing Director of Global West Vessels Limited; Captain Wilfred Itima faulted NIMASA’s claims. He said the vessels were never in the custody of the EFCC.
Itima, while lamenting the abandonment of the vessels disclosed that the 16 vessels including the onboard equipment cost a total of $120 million.
Explaining details of the botched contract, the GWVL managing director informed that his company was hired to provide platforms (boats) and gives information regarding the terrain between Lagos and Calabar after which they will get paid by NIMASA.
He lamented that the contract only lasted for about nine months due to a change of government from the PDP to the APC.
He alleged that owing to the change of government in 2015, NIMASA reneged on its side of the agreement, despite working for over nine months, he said after nine months of working without pay, they decided to stop working as the debt to its workers continue to rise without payment from NIMASA.
Itima further disclosed that aside from the sunk vessels in Lagos, there are two other vessels on the verge of sinking in Lagos and Bayelsa.
He added that the debt profile of the company has risen above N3 billion as the firm can no longer afford to pay back loans and other services rendered.
He told Shipping Position Daily exclusively last week that “We’ve not paid our workers for the past six years, we are trying to reason with NIMASA to see if they can pay us what they owe so that we can pay our workers
“We have a contract of 10 years but three years into the contract we had EFCC problem because of NIMASA and the case ended about three years ago in favour of Global West and we tried talking to them, we wrote them letters but no response, and since 2015, the vessels were just tied up and we have some crews on board that are still working and we tried to maintain them until about a year when it gets to the points where we don’t have money to maintain them again.
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“We have tried everything, presently I am owing more than N3 billion, we worked for nine months without NIMASA paying us. We have almost 16 vessels operating; those vessels work 24hrs a day, you know how much it will cost, we pay crews, we feed them, we buy diesel, we maintain them and for nine months we didn’t get paid, that’s why we got tired.
“And let me also inform you that the EFCC never told NIMASA not to use the vessels, or that the vessels are under investigation, no, it was NIMASA that stopped, we were working until December 2015 before we stopped because we cannot continue again, because we don’t have money to run it, that was why we stopped.
“EFCC never told us to stop, EFCC never arrested those vessels, if they said it’s EFCC, they should have a letter from EFCC telling them not to operate the vessels, even while we were going to EFCC then, they told us, you can use your vessels; they are not under arrest, so it’s NIMASA that has a problem with the vessels.
“We stopped working after nine months of working without pay, we have lost about 25 crew members due to the debt it’s so unfortunate”, he said.
Further investigation by our correspondent regarding some of the vessels revealed that the vessels were over 30 years as at the time of purchase.
For instance vessel WAO ETHIOPE (IMO: 7816680 ) that sank recently was an Offshore Support Vessel built in 1978 (44 years also).
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